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Session 26 - Stars in the Visible & IR.
Display session, Tuesday, June 10
South Main Hall,
Pulsating M-type giant and supergiant stars radiate mainly in the near to intermediate IR (1000-2000 nm). Since most prior long-term photometric observations have been done visually or with UBVRI filters, an on-going program was established to monitor selected stars using both wide-band visual (550 nm) and Wing (719 nm, 754 nm, and 1040 nm) intermediate band filters. Outer atmopsheric titanium-oxide (TiO) strenghts are calculated and compared with generated visual light curves to study correlations of stellar pulsa- tions with molecular formation. IR color temperatures are computed and are used in combination with measured bolome- tric magnitudes to estimate radii changes throughout pulsa- tional cycles. These results should provide information relevant for studies of internal structures, atmopsheres, and evolution of red giant and supergiant stars. Some stars currently being observed include Mira, Aldebaran, Alpha Her, Betelgeuse, V CVn, R Leo, and CE Tau.
Additionally, a calibration of the Wing 3-color spectro- photometry sytem is in progress to correlate TiO strengths with known spectral types and near-IR color temperatures for the benefit of the community. Observations measuring spectral sub-type changes via cyclic pulsational variations in TiO-indices and near-IR color temperature changes will be more accurate once the calibration is completed.
This work was in part supported by NSF grant AST-9315365, which we gratefully acknowledge.
